and senator mcconnell have made this afternoon, that we're close to an agreement, close to a deal. i don't agree, i say again, that no deal is better than a bad deal. in this case of the fiscal cliff, no deal is the worst deal possible for the american people. we passed the time when we're going to -- before tonight, negotiate the comprehensive, bipartisan debt-reduction agreement that our country desperately needs. the least we can do is protect the constituents who were good enough to send us here from the worst possible result, which is that we let the country go over the cliff, we -- we prove that to everybody, including people around the world who depend on american strength and watch us, that our political system has become absolutely dysfunctional. so i hope the negotiations going on now end with an agreement and i hope that we will pass it with a bipartisan majority, strong bipartisan majority in the senate and the house. and i certainly will support it from all that i hear about it myself. i thank the chair, and i yield the floor. mr. lieberman: mr. president, i suggest th